Kabir Ke Dohe: सुखिया सब संसार है Kabir Doha on Finding True Happiness:

Kabir has spoken a lot about man and his sleep and his hunger. In the last Doha of Kabir on time management, he tells us how the hunger and lack of awareness waste our entire lives. Isn’t it quite interesting to know what happens to the one who is awake? The one who has come out of his sleep and hunger? How does that person live his life, the one who is beyond this delusion and hunger to gain something?

 

This Doha of Kabir answers this question. I would like to thank my friend Sachin who shared this Doha with me. The inherent beauty of this Doha made me take out time and write. This Doha is very simple and yet can be misinterpreted very easily. It is quite easy to take its meaning upside down.
सुखिया सब संसार है, खाये और सोये I

दुखिया दास कबीर है, जागे और रोये I
(The entire world is happy, engrossed in sleep and hunger. Look at poor Kabir, he is awake and crying!)

The first line of this couplet is,

सुखिया सब संसार है, खाये और सोये I

(The entire world is happy, engrossed in eating and sleeping)
This is quite true. See the people around- they are so happy with their daily lives. Look at the students who have just passed out from their colleges and joined their jobs freshly. Huge and lavish offices, anytime access to coffee and fruit juices, salaries dropped into their accounts on the last day of every month. Life is so perfect! Music, movies, dine outs with friends; there is so much of fun in the life.

Almost all the people we see around, are happy with their lives- full of delusion and the eternal hunger of collecting more and more stuff. Then sometimes, they get troubled by something- some rape happening somewhere, elections, reservations. They read and immaturely respond to the manipulated news and fabricated photos on social media; that gives them a feeling of bringing about a change. Once their feeling of guilt goes away through all these activities, they are back to the routine- sleep and hunger. The life goes on..

The one who has come out of the trap of sleep and hunger, is an altogether different person. He is no more in delusions. He is no more interested in gathering useless things to fulfil his hunger and possessiveness. He never does anything to fulfil his mind- to maintain his social status, image or come out of his guilty feeling. He does things because he understands the need of doing them. He has actually passed the stage of being obsessed with oneself. He can think beyond himself. He is ready to identify a need and start doing something about it. The next line of this Doha is,

दुखिया दास कबीर है, जागे और रोये I

Please pay attention to the words Kabir uses in this Doha. This is a taunt from Kabir to those around him who would be saying to him-
“Why are you so worried about others? Leave it, enjoy your life. Eat good food, sleep well and be happy”

Almost each and every saint gets this kind of reactions from people surrounding him. Everyone who tries to do something different, gets this advice. I also often get a similar advice from many around me. Kabir is pointing out this irony- the world thinks that those who eat and make merry are happy and the ones like Kabir or Socrates, who are awake, trying to wake up others are drenched in sorrow.

I can actually see the Kabir in front of my eyes- sitting in the market place and selling pieces of fabric. While doing so, he is endlessly awakening people through his couplets. People around are thinking- ‘What’s wrong with Kabir? If he focuses his energy on his work instead of all this advice, he can sell much more fabric, earn more money, eat well, collect many more things around him and sleep peacefully’

Those who think Kabir is sad, are absolutely wrong. He is not sad, he is full of bliss and compassion. His compassion makes him look sad; but remember, he is happier than all the people surrounding him; he is floating in bliss.

In these two lines, Kabir tells us the delusion. We are all like the dog licking the dry bone. The bone is rough. As the dog goes on licking it, his tongue gets cut all across. His own blood comes out and the dog is under the delusion that the blood is coming out of the bone. Those who are living their lives under the influence of sleep and hunger, are like this dog- hurting themselves in order to suck out more pleasure from the life.

In these two lines, Kabir is highlighting the eternal truth- unless you go beyond yourself, you will not find happiness in your life. Of course, you can have a delusion of happiness and enjoy it for your entire life, but you will totally miss the taste of true happiness and satisfaction.